back to article Apple branded porno-peddling perverts by Chinese Pravda

A state-run Chinese newspaper has attempted to name and shame Apple for allegedly spreading smut in the People's Republic. The Foxconn rebrander appears on a rundown of 198 dodgy and mostly obscure websites accused of breaking obscenity laws that ban the online distribution of XXX material. The list was published today in …

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  1. cyke1
    FAIL

    You know this could be a bad idea for china. Apple if they ever find a better place to have their products made might just leave.

    1. LarsG
      Meh

      Smut

      On the iStore.........

      Where where where?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      If Apple ever made a move out of China, for the rest of us at least we'd be able to get cheap knock offs of Apple designs for many years to come.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Trollface

        "for the rest of us at least we'd be able to get cheap knock offs of Apple designs for many years to come."

        I've already got a Samsung; no need!

    3. khjohansen
      Go

      Re: bad for China

      Aah but China is growing from minimal_labor_cost_sweatshop_country to giant_juicy_market_for_iDevices!

    4. This post has been deleted by its author

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Apple leaving...

      Apple will leave, and so will others, but you are probably wrong, it will not be China hurting but the US will be screwed since it will have nowhere to send it's massive supply of dollars, and so the dollar will tank further in value. Perversely, that will be good for US exports of course, in fact that is probably their grand plan, get manufacturing back and deflate the dollar further.

      As for the smut, the Chinese are right. What is acceptable in one country or culture does not mean it is, or should be, acceptable in another one. Just because we have zero morals in the west, with porn and violence being perverse entertainment for the masses, does not mean that it is a good idea.

      Apple, Hollywood and Co are just a mechanism for spreading the low western values and debasing the whole world whilst screwing them for as much money as they can in the process, then the users become hooked on porn and violence - great revenue stream for the studios and Apple etc, no?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Apple leaving...

        So, when exactly did you join the WBC Frank?

  2. Mitoo Bobsworth
    Devil

    So why are they LOOKING for smut?

    Is masturbating to the little red book not doing it for them anymore?

    1. Tom 38
      Headmaster

      Re: So why are they LOOKING for smut?

      Why not look for smut?

      Isn't People's Daily the Daily Mail sized rag with the Page 3 style nudie pics on the back page?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: So why are they LOOKING for smut?

      It is an actual job in China: being government-employed and paid for spending your day looking for smut on the Internet, and carefully reviewing it to determine exactly how smutty it is.

      This being China, if you are very zealous and do overtime, you probably won't get paid more.

      Sadly, when I was living there, I've never found where to apply for that position.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wow!

    The Chinese must be really straight-laced if they're offended by the insipid content super-prude Apple allows on the App Store.

  4. Pooka

    Ummm....

    There's a certain cynical side of me that had the following thought:

    "So Apple settled in China once before, and now they've found something else that they can get more money out of them for.... I wonder if this is going to keep happening....

    Interesting money spinner there.

    (nb - I'm not an Apple fanboy and part of me finds the whole thought very amusing - like if a car dealer has just sold you a car, and now he's selling you the wheels to go on it, and next week it'll be the drivers seat inside....)

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I think China, like many right minded people, just hate Apple.

    Ooh, burn!

    1. GitMeMyShootinIrons
      WTF?

      eh?

      China? Right minded? Surely you mean Left minded? They are (allegedly) a People's Republic and socialist paradise after all...

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  7. tempemeaty

    I figured China accepted Apples' apologies, guess China didn't really want one

    Seems Chinese authorities are not gonna let Apple easily do business then. I thought Apple having apologized recently was the right thing. Maybe I thought wrong. Maybe Apple should have put it back in Chinas' face with a terse disclaimer indicating no wrong occurred like Microsoft just did. Obviously apologizing is not getting anywhere with China so why bother anymore. Time to find an alternative to Foxcon and be done with China for a while?

  8. southpacificpom
    Holmes

    If Apple are proud to be American then perhaps they should move the assembly plant to Cupertino and wave goodbye to China. Give some of there own people jobs, lots will thank Apple for it.

    1. wowfood

      It'll never happen

      The hit to profjit margings would be too large. Partly due to how much Apple pay their chinese workers (counted in peanuts) and partly because of all the 'rare minerals' used in computer parts that are mostly found in china, and they refuse to export for any reasonable sum.

      I'm sure the moment more markets find viable alternatives to these minerals we'll start seeing some shift away from china. Probably only to india and thailand but it'd be a shift nonetheless

      1. Getriebe
        Holmes

        Re: It'll never happen

        Rare minerals - you are probably referingto Coltan - mainly doesn't come from China. DRC if I remember, which China is try to annex through purchasing mineral rights. Also Australia - which is annexing itself! World's a funny old place

      2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: It'll never happen

        The salary cost of an iPhone is tiny - far more of the iPhone $$ goes to Germany to buy Siemens pick and place machines than goes to the chinese.

        The difficulty with building an iPhone plant in the US is that the cheap areas with lots of workers and a "business-friendly" attitude to worker and environmental laws are too far from the sea to make shipping them economic. Then all your suppliers are in China or SE Asia so you need to have an extra month in all your production plans for the korean memory, malay CPU and chinese made gorrilla glass to arrive in Albuquerque

        1. FrankAlphaXII

          Re: It'll never happen

          I'll bite. I think you'd find Florida to be all of the above. We hate our workers, our pay is shit, real estate is fairly cheap, we abuse our environment and are surrounded on three sides by ocean. Texas is also a "good" option, they're even worse than we are.

          But I suppose that you probably meant "Pacific Ocean" when you meant "Sea" though and I think you'd be shit out of luck looking there.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: It'll never happen

        "...and partly because of all the 'rare minerals' used in computer parts that are mostly found in china..."

        They're "found" everywhere. China just doesn't care about the planet that we live and so dump toxic waste everywhere. Anyone doing business with China should be embarrassed.

    2. LosD

      I thought that was what they were already doing (at least start to move assembly to USA), which may be why China is so bent on shaming them.

    3. Armando 123

      Cook's background is in manufacturing/production, IIRC, and I know certain components are now made in the US. I recall reading about the glass being made in Austin, TX, at least as of a year ago.

  9. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
    FAIL

    Dear 'The Register'

    Can we have less of the 'Foxconn rebrander' when talking about Apple.

    You know only too well that Foxconn makes kit for all sorts of other companies yet you don't use that somewhat derogatory term when mentioning those organisations.

    Anyone would think you had stooped to the level of 'The National Enquirer'?

    1. Hasham
      Facepalm

      Re: Dear 'The Register'

      It's a joke, dear. Calm down.

      1. Helena Handcart

        Re: Dear 'The Register'

        But a rather tired one.

        1. Hasham
          Unhappy

          Re: Dear 'The Register'

          I'm sorry your feelings were hurt, also.

        2. TeeCee Gold badge
          Happy

          Re: Dear 'The Register'

          Maybe, but this place is a bit like "Private Eye" in this regard.

          Some quips and euphemisms become part of the fixtures and fittings. Changing that behaviour would fundamentally change the character of the place.

          Besides, while actually harmless, this one seems to really grate with the fanbois so it has to be worth keeping.

          1. Graham Dawson Silver badge

            Re: Dear 'The Register'

            Aye. If it really gets annoying perhaps they should cancel their subscription. I'm writing to do that this very moment!

        3. Captain Save-a-ho
          Megaphone

          Re: Dear 'The Register'

          But a rather tired one.

          And I think it's fucking hiliarious, so there!

    2. Eradicate all BB entrants

      @ Steve Re: Dear 'The Register'

      Although a joke it is quite true. If I take apart this laptop in front of me I will find Foxconn stamped on the PCMCIA chassis, not HP, same for most of the generic NIC shrouds, dimm slots and so on you have in laptops. Do the same with Apple hardware and the exact same parts will be stamped Apple or blank, not Foxconn.

      As for the China business, Apple would sell much much more if they used some of their warchest money to open 100's of Starbucks outlets, as the Chinese would have somewhere to show off their Apple devices.

  10. Chairo
    Pint

    Smut in online bookstores?

    Well, what else? People are afraid to go in a real world bookstore to buy smut, printed on dead trees. Online bookstores solve that problem. Not that they are exactly private places...

    Wasn't it some El Reg hack, who had some sort of pr0n book advertisement popping up in a e-reader screenshot during a review, lately?

    Well as for the app store - yes, it would be interesting which app caught the eye of China's official chaperones. A book reader app, perhaps?

    1. Armando 123

      Re: Smut in online bookstores?

      Knowing China, the offending book was probably Rose and Milton Friedman's "Free to Choose" of Hayek's "Road to Serfdom".

      1. Twyst

        Re: Smut in online bookstores?

        On the same subject, Popper's "The Open Society and Its Enemies" is a superior work.

  11. Gordon Pryra
    Flame

    Pathetic

    Truly pathetic that people who run a country can continually sound like children in the playground.

    The west is best buds with China at the moment because they are bailing us out, but in all honesty they are one step away from the likes of North Korea, who we jokingly refer to as "mad as a box of frogs"

    None of this is a joke, this story, though funny, show how they view us, and how stupid they believe we are.

    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

      Re: Pathetic

      The Chinese aren't bailing us out! They're one of the major reasons for the current crisis.

      By artificially holding the value of their currency down, when they're the 2nd largest economy and largest exporter in the world. This has caused massive global financial imbalance, and is one of the reasons for the huge bubble that got inflated over the last 10-15 years. This was partly done to keep them competitive against foreign competition, but also to hold real wages down for their own workers which both keeps them competitive and holds back the development of a middle class (who tend to be trouble makers and demand rights).

      For an example of this in microcosm, see the effect of sharing a single currency with Germany on other members of the Euro. Exchange rate fluctuation puts a flex in the system that allows an economic system to move towards equilibrium.

  12. J. R. Hartley
    Go

    The title is no longer required

    Just had to log in for the first time this year to say that I hadn't heard Foxconn rebrander in ages and it made me laugh out loud.

    Good stuff :)

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    1. The Alpha Klutz

      Re: apple and china are two dispicable entities

      what's that I can see in front of me? buildings? people? clear blue sky?

      it must be so nice in china where you get to enjoy the thick black smog. oh how i must be missing out.

      how quaint Britain must seem with its clear air laws as all the insufferable trendy scumbags move to china to try and become english teachers. enjoy your lung cancer and dont come back.

  14. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Armando 123

      Shall we add you to the Apple Death Knell Counter? http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/death_knell/

  15. Mr Spock

    Chinese government sounds clueless... I bet they'll get voted out at the next election...

    ... oh.

    1. Armando 123

      Based on my 40+ years of living under US politics, cluelessness and electability are not mutually exclusive. Someone like mencken might argue that there is a correlation, actually ...

    2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      yep - I think I'll exercise my western freedom and vote communist in the next US election

      .... oh

  16. Crisp
    Go

    I'm going to reserve judgement until I see some evidence.

    Sexy Evidence.

    1. Darryl

      Re: I'm going to reserve judgement until I see some evidence.

      "The court will now hear some very sensual testimony from this court's ex-lover, Turanga Leela. "

      - Captain Zapp Brannigan

  17. Winkypop Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Dear 'The Register'

    Can we have MORE of the 'Foxconn rebrander' when talking about Apple?

    It makes me smile.

    Thank you.

    1. GitMeMyShootinIrons
      Meh

      Re: Dear 'The Register'

      Perhaps, in the interest of balance we should refer to HTC and other peddlers of Android devices as Googlebitches and Dell as Ballmer's Lapdog...

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